Will Ferrari's Reign Finally End???

[KJM3]

With the new 1 tire per race rule this year, testing tires has become a much harder and time consuming job. When Bridgestone had Ferrari, Sauber, Jordan and Minardi testing for them (only Ferrari and to a lesser degree Sauber and Jordan actually tested), they were still able to make a better tire than Michelin. Then again, the Bridgestone's no doubt were developed to Ferrari's requirements only.

This wasn't so hard as Ferrari was able to test a bunch of different tires because they only had to see if the tires could last 25 lap's at the most. Thus, by running 1 race distance, they could test about 3 sets of tires per car.

This year though, every team except for Ferrari and Minardi are running on Michelin tires. Now Ferrari will be the only team doing meaningful testing for Bridgestone. However, to accurately test a set of tires this season, the tires will have to be run almost a full race distance. For Michelin this challenge can be spread out amongst the 8 teams they supply. As they develop tires throughout the course of the season, they will have almost 8 times the data to develop and pick the best tires for each race.

Ferrari/Bridgestone may not be able to test the amount of time required to develop the Bridgestone tires as fast as Michelin.

Although I'm not a fan of the whole 1 Tire/Race rule, I think it is just what F1 needed to even the playing ground with regards to Ferrari/Bridgestone Michelin/Everyone else.

All this plus McLaren's pace this year in testing leads me to believe that Ferrari's reign may come to an end this season!

What do you guys think?

- KJ

[West]

Let the first race dictate. Remember, Williams were the one to beat in 2004 and Ferrari just embarassed them.

[Scuderia_Russ]

The range of mileage has gone up from 45-65 miles to 190 miles so compounds will obviously have to be harder. Both companies willl want to produce the softest tyre possible while maintaining stiffness so that movement remains limited. Seeing as a tyre that moves around more will get hotter quickly and then degrade more. And seeing as over the past seasons Michelins have run cooler than Bridgestones if they can keep this with their long distance rubber Michelin could come out on top. Like Jaques Villeneuve said, this year will all come down to tyres!

[-shr3d-]

hey KJ,
Yeah i think that will be a big problem for Bridgestone this year (check my other post re: tyre testing stats).
and with Ferrari starting with a modified car, we could see a year like 2003 hopefully.

[j4kwan]

i guess we also have to realise that eventhough Michelin may develop faster because of their 8 teams, the tires may not suit each team perfectly. Bridgestone may perhaps develop slower and have less data to analyse, but it will be a perfect use for Ferrari.

Williams use the be the top runners for Michelin. Now they have McLaren, BAR, Renault and possibly Toyota this year. With much of the michelin-shod teams coming up for podium contention, which team will Michelin favor and focus on?

[Scuderia_Russ]

i guess we also have to realise that eventhough Michelin may develop faster because of their 8 teams, the tires may not suit each team perfectly. Bridgestone may perhaps develop slower and have less data to analyse, but it will be a perfect use for Ferrari.

Williams use the be the top runners for Michelin. Now they have McLaren, BAR, Renault and possibly Toyota this year. With much of the michelin-shod teams coming up for podium contention, which team will Michelin favor and focus on?

You got it mate, Michelin producing tyres for alot of teams even if they are doing more miles in testing than Bridgestone who are producing bespoke tyres for only one team and then giving two others the same tyre.I think this evens out how much testing Michelin are doing.

[-shr3d-]

yeah there is no doubt that there is an advantage for Ferrari in having tyres designed with them and their vehicle dynamics department in close consultation. But there has got to be a fairly major redesign of their tyre constructions to meet the new rules and surely 38000miles completed by Michelin to the 5500miles to Bridgestone must be a huge advantage in the data available to be analysed...

[Guest]

yeah but michelin have to produce tyres for a lot of driving styles ( alonso, ralf, kimi etc etc) and Brigestone only for schumi style

[Spencifer_Murphy]

Will Ferrari's reign come to an end? In short no. lol. Dont get me wrong I'd really love to see it happen (not because I dislike Ferrari...I actually like them alot, its just tht we need change), in fact I'd be happy with Rubens winning the championship....please no more Michael domination lol.

Lets not get onto the whole "Michael is great"...."No he isn't" argument, I suppose we will never all agree on it. If you want a decent argument on that one I really suggest you read this months F1 Racing magazine. Martin Brundle writes a very very good article about Michael vs. Michael. lol...the idea is that Michaels biggest opposition now is himself. When he sees a team-mate perform well (Brundle says,) he sees it as an unacceptable imbalance and asks the car to do the impossible in order to set things right (examples are China 2004, Japan 2003) but Brundle also pionts out how Rubens simply isnt allowed to challenge Michael...he pionts out that as soon as the championship is wrapped up for MS, rubens' performances on track soar to a new level. The argument is put forward that "If michael is so great why does he need his team mate to act like a rear gunner?" Brundle basically sums up that Michael is just another driver...no more. HOWEVER, he has built himself a comfort zone, he has a private jet (a HUGE one), he is loved by his mechanics, Rubens is his extra support (should he need it) and Ferrari have given him a car which he knows almost certainly will take him to the end of the race regardless of finishing position...he is totally comfortable in the team as as such he can perform extremely well (just like Kimi or Juan Pablo or Fernando Alonso) BUT crucially Michael is capable of doing this almost everytime...the comfort zone he has built around himself - his Ferrari "armour" as such - means that he can perform more consistantly than another driver.

If your wondering why I waffled for so long seemingly off-topic its because:
1. I got a little carried away
2. Michaels ability to perform so well SO OFTEN is my basis to suggest that Ferrari's reign will not end this year.

That is unless Ferrari make a dud car...and what are the chances of that?

Drivers Champ: Schumi
Const. Champs: Ferrari

Lets just hope he gets some good competition this year....


...PLEASE?!

[Scuderia_Russ]

I've got alot of time for Brundle. His insight through the commentary that the viewers get here makes up for alot of poor broadcasting from his chums.

[-shr3d-]

yeah the balance isnt that much different than 2003 which was the last good year in terms of racing for the championship because Michelin did a better job than Bridgestone and those drivers with different styles were all able to challenge Michael and beat him (though he did still win 3times as many races as anyone else) lets hope for that at least

[doorboot]

You never know with Ferrari what they will come up with. I had great hopes last year this time for the MP4-19 only to be greatly disapointed. This year will hopefully be different. As to the tire situation, Bridgestone receives a lot of good exposure due to Ferrari, so it only makes sense that they back their strongest horse. I also remember that Michelin had a specific tire for Williams (2003 season) that the other teams did not use, so what stops them from tailoring special tires for the various teams (other that cost)?

"I'm the manager, I make decisions, I'm responsible for the defeat - not for the victories, for the defeats, so I'm responsible for that" Jose Mourinho

[DaveKillens]

x

[-shr3d-]

yeah i hope you are wrong there too dave, 97 was a shocking year for that sort of caper. I dont mind the lack of overtaking in F1 but I hate it when a quick car slows down for team reasons to keep a competitor at bay..

[Guest]

*crossing my fingers for superior Michelins*

That's the key. We need superior Michelins to have a competitive championship.

Hopefully the souped up Ferrari at the start of the season is not very competitive. The other teams need to score alot before the new Ferrari comes out(ala Mclaren of 2003).